It is not so much the destination as the voyage itself that matters.

December 04, 2016

We had a little bit of every kind of late Fall coastal weather when we spent a few days last week near Newport (Oregon). There was sunshine and blue skies, rain, wind, and hail. We enjoyed it all -- (admittedly some of it as we looked out the windows from the comfort of our rented coastal condo or from the car.)

Sea lions taking it easy (as they pretty much always do) on the rocks at Heceta Head (near Florence) -- this was a roadside stop on our way to Newport. You can see the ocean every minute of the drive from Florence on North up the Coast. And there are lots of places to pull over for better views. (And no parking problems this time of year.)

Sunset view from the deck where we stayed. We almost didn't have time this year to get over to the Coast -- it really isn't all that far from Eugene, but life got busy here in the City. I am so glad we found the time.

Typical Oregon Coast scenery -- not sure where we were when I took this one. The greenery all the way to the sand really says Oregon Coast. And of course all the rain has just a little bit to do with it! I used to try to remember that fact during the gray winters -- back when we lived here all year round.

Cape Foulweather living up to its name (although of course there will be much worse weather over the winter months).

It was a steep walk to the rocky beach below Starfish Point, the great condo we rented. But definitely worth it.

November 27, 2016

Earlier this month we traveled North to spend a few days visiting our son and his family in Tacoma (Washington State). We like to explore and so does our son, who guided us on this day drive through pretty farm country (although it is also rapidly growing housing developments). We saw Mt Rainier from a side we hadn't visited before.

Views of the Mountain from the town of Orting heading towards Rainier National Park.

Mt. Rainier is the tallest peak in the Pacific Northwest and it is an active volcano.

Signs in the Orting City Park remind area residents to be prepared in case of an eruption. As the sign says, it may not happen in our lifetime, but preparedness is the best defense.

Just as in Florida where streets and highways are marked with hurricane evacuation routes, here in this part of Washington, there are volcano evacuation routes.

(Danger lurks everywhere, but we might as well enjoy the beauty in the meantime.)

A few miles outside of town, we crossed the Carbon River. It flows from Carbon Glacier on the Mountain and joins the Puyallup River at Orting. We walked over this bridge for amazing river and forest views.

A few miles further on, we stopped to walk in this mini rain forest area barely into the National Park.

Bill and Pete -- wondering if that rickety boardwalk is safe.

Sure, why not. Let's do it.

(I have more problems with city sidewalks as it turns out.)

It was a green and beautiful nature walk -- but cold!

And no wonder -- by the time we headed back to town for dinner, there was even more snow on the Mountain than there had been in the morning.

And thanks to everyone for the thoughtful comments on last week's post. It helps to talk things over with friends -- virtual as well as in real life. As you'll read below, I'm a little bit slow with my visits and replying, but I will get there.

Happy Thanksgiving!! This is an urban wild turkey spotted a week ago Sunday just a few blocks from our mid-town apartment.

I know these birds do well in this part of Oregon, but have to admit I was surprised to see one this close to the City center/downtown mall.

She didn't seem at all worried about ending up on the dinner table -- and in fact is probably safer living on downtown streets this time of year than out in the country.

The turkey was the first thing I took a picture of that afternoon. I'd gone out for a short photo/exploration walk, with the main goal being to figure out the sign below.

We'd spotted it on the side of a building below the Ferry Street Bridge -- one of the main city connectors -- earlier in the week. And wondered what we'd missed.

Because why would there be a sign with just a picture of a falling girl. But there was nothing else on the sign.

Just the girl falling.

Or maybe she's diving.

Or floating through the air.

But I'm going with 'falling' as a symbol. Because just a few minutes after I'd taken her picture, and obviously while my mind was still on the puzzle, I tripped over a curb -- and splatted flat on the sidewalk -- could have been worse I suppose, except for the fact that I caught myself on both hands. My fall was not nearly so graceful.

Besides various scrapes and bruises, I broke and dislocated one little finger and twisted and bruised bones on my other wrist.

I was thankful I had my cell phone to call Bill (a driver crossing the street beside me kindly stopped to offer help but as soon as I saw that my cell wasn't crushed, I told him help was only minutes away).

We certainly didn't spend the rest of that Sunday evening the way we'd planned! Without going into all the boring details I'll just tell you that Sunday afternoon is definitely not a good time to visit Urgent Care or the Emergency Ward here in Eugene and our hours spent in those places were fruitless. We didn't really get anything done until we visited an Orthopedic clinic on Monday. Now, my finger is strapped, making keyboarding difficult and both hands get tired. (It's a little easier on the IPAD where I can use the stylus, but my pictures are here on the laptop.) Tomorrow afternoon (Monday) I'll find out if I will need surgery.

Bill has been waiting on me literally hand and foot -- the two things I still can't manage at all are tying my shoes and fixing the strap around my hand.

Below are some examples of urban nature taken on my walk 'before the fall.'

So besides the things I always give thanks for, this Thanksgiving Week I'm especially grateful that nobody is depending on me to cook the feast -- grateful that we will be with our family. And I'm grateful for a patient and helpful husband. And that my fall didn't completely ruin my point-and-shoot camera or damage my cell phone ... those two necessities of life.

November 07, 2016

Last week's post was about a country walk . In contrast, here are a couple of recent City strolls. We are fortunate to be able to do both while we're here in Oregon.

A city fence surrounds this beautiful corner home a few blocks from our apartment. If we walk in one direction from home we're in the center of downtown -- the other directions take us into older residential neighborhoods. We are lucky to still have some Autumn color, even after days of rain. These pictures were taken last week.

Same one from another angle. I counted seven different colors of paint! I remember the days of helping to paint our one-and-a-half story home here in Oregon (in our former life, before we sold out to travel full-time).... that house had three colors and was hard enough to keep up. I wouldn't want to help with this one. It's a lot more fun to take pictures.

Another house in the neighborhood, not quite as grand, but the happy colors are a standout. That's not a poster in the doorway window, but a reflection of trees from across the street. I hoped that the homeowners had been outside at the right time to see the pretty picture at their doorway.

This is Maude Kerns Art Center near the University of Oregon campus. I walked there one day to see the Day of the Dead (Dia De Muertes) display before it closed on November 4.

This embroidered sign with the good advice from George Bernard Shaw caught my eye.

A few of the altars on display. Day of the Dead is a Mexican celebration that remembers and honors loved ones who have died, while at the same time re-affirming life.

We learned about it when we spent some RV time in Southwest states and Mexico. At that time, this holiday hadn't yet made it to public awareness in our part of the Pacific Northwest, so it was all new to us. In the ensuing years, the culture here in Eugene has become more diverse and enriched. While these altars weren't as elaborate as some we've seen elsewhere, it is a good start. Here's a link to an NPR article explaining the meaning of the altars.

** In real time, I'm trying to stay positive in light of the fact that Our World as we know it may end on Election Day tomorrow.

Not my bike, not my unicorn, not my sign. But I kind of wish they were.

Some of our 'stuff' is stored in the barn at our daughter and son-in-law's and last Friday we had a couple of tasks to do there. And when I say 'we', I mean Bill. But of course I went along for the ride picture opportunities.

I thought about good fences as I walked the perimeter of the property. In the country, fences are not necessarily decorative.

Barbed wire does just fine, especially out on the 'south forty' where all these pictures were taken. There is a row of tall evergreen trees between the fence line and the rest of the property so that the wire fencing isn't visible from the house and yard. The pathway between the trees and fence makes a narrow walkway -- our great-grandsons love that secret spot and so do I.

I'm always glad for a chance to visit the farm, even when our son-in-law and daughter are busy elsewhere. And I was especially glad after this visit, because Friday was the only day last week when it didn't rain. I caught a blue sky and a couple of blue birds when I looked up. These are the two Jays that we see here in this part of Oregon. The one on the left is a Stellar's and the other a Scrub (one of the most common birds around here).

And when I looked down, everywhere all over the property, there were fungi! I'm going to cheat a little just this once and link these to Today's Flowers. After all, they were growing in the ground -- and I found them quite decorative (although I'm not sure the gardeners who live there would agree with me).

October 30, 2016

Actually, I'm haunted this (election) season by scarier things than spider webs, old houses, and cars buried in leaves.... but none of that makes good blogging material. So on walks, I look for things to smile about -- that way, at least I'll have a chance at a good night's sleep.

I went back to the archives for these bird pictures -- because Vultures are simply the best Halloween birds ever.

Look alive now!

We don't see vultures often here in Oregon (they're here -- we're just not in the right neighborhood)... these guys haunted us in Florida last season.

Seasonal color of the non-haunted kind -- all from walks around our Oregon neighborhood last week. Every year, I wonder what becomes of all the pumpkins you see at the grocery stores and supermarkets -- they really don't seem to sell that many.

We also saw this sign at the Saturday Farmer's Market:

This vendor sold catnip and other pot herbs -- not that kind of pot (at least not that we recognized). Although that kind did become legal in Oregon last year. (As far as I know, catnip has always been legal.)

October 27, 2016

We're still in rainy western Oregon and, although we'd almost given up, last week we did get some more blue sky after all.

It rained hard all day long last Friday. Then finally - about 5:30 -- the rain seemed like it was letting up a little so I grabbed raincoat, camera, and umbrella and headed out for a quick neighborhood walk before dinner (and dark). Not even half an hour into the walk the skies completely cleared. And it was as if the sun was packing all the brightness it could into the last few minutes of the day.

It burnished the trees and made even prosaic buildings glow.

This beautiful yard is on the corner of a street across from a City Park a few blocks from where we live. It's been more picture-worthy than the Park all summer long and it still shines in mid-October. Here are just a few of the flowers -- on a different day's walk between showers.

Roses are no longer at their peak, but this one was still beautiful in all its faded glory.

You have to look a little harder for natural beauty on rainy days in the city -- but it is definitely still out here!

October 23, 2016

We had a pleasant surprise Saturday morning as we stepped outside onto the apartment complex terrace. (And I'm not talking about the blue sky -- although that was a gift after a wet week.) But the real surprise was a couple of trees that appeared to be blooming with migrating cedar waxwings.

We've seen a few waxwings before in a few different States -- but never this many at once. And even more amazing than seeing that many is that this this sighting was in the middle of the City -- right on the edge of the busy downtown mall.

The above picture is highly cropped to show the distinctive eye and shape better. We actually got much closer views of some of the birds as they flitted between the trees -- but that was before I was able to come to my senses and wrestle out the camera -- I hadn't really expected to use it before breakfast on what we thought was an ordinary urban Saturday morning.

Even without this unexpected gift, it was was a pretty week here (in between rain storms). Below is the kind of Autumn beauty we actually expect to see this time of year (and the picture that would have been featured on this post if the waxwings hadn't pre-empted it):

I enjoy taking and arranging pictures of Autumn leaves -- it reminds me of the way we all used to collect and press them between sheets of waxed paper (as children and parents of children).

After our breakfast out Saturday (which had been slightly delayed by trees full of birds), we headed over to the Eugene Farmer's Market in the Downtown Park blocks:

One local farmer used this wonderful old truck as his stall. There are somewhere around 25 or 30 different vendors at this Market and still a whole lot of good, fresh, organic (mostly) produce. This week we bought peppers, salad greens, onions, tomatoes and squash -- and Flowers! Plus goat cheese, salsa, and bacon all locally produced. We love Farm Markets and always looked for them when we traveled by RV. And we still think this is one of the best.

But if anyone in Eugene should happen to feel that the Farmer's Market is a little too rustic or too much work (or too wet, which does happen here occasionally), they could always head down the street to Marche, the grocery store and deli at the (yuppie/upscale) Fifth Street Public Market:

There is still a little bit of work involved after you get home from the deli.

But your shopping burden may be made easier by the above.

(Rather than shopping for groceries at this market, we usually only go there to eat in one of the restaurants -- and to take pictures. (So far they haven't started charging for the latter.)

October 16, 2016

The words on this downtown coffee shop sign really say everything there is to say about our current weather. It's good to have places to duck into during a downfall -- and of course coffee is perfect for this weather. We need the rain, so I am not complaining (at least not much). The storm caused some damage on the Oregon Coast (there were two tornados on the North Coast) -- and some downed trees and electrical outages closer to us. But all we saw (and all we are still seeing) is rain.

The picture above is at our daughter and son-in-law's -- they are out in the country west of Eugene, but didn't have any problems from the big storm. This was taken on the same weekend as the storm was hitting the coast, but it was before we'd had a lot of rain here.

The pictures above are residential neighborhoods where I walk here in the City.... earlier in the week -- before the rain. Heavy rains tend to bring an end to much of the Autumn color, so it's good I got some pictures while it lasted.

Our Apartment complex terrace, one day before the maintenance people with their noisy leaf blowers appeared. And two days before the heavy rains started. So I guess it was good timing....they would probably be slippery and slimy messes if they were still there.

The owner of a small gallery downtown has fun making temporary art out of raking leaves. Later on in the week, the leaves said 'RAIN'. But I liked this older version better.